A+Little+Piece+of+Heaven

A Little Piece of Heaven This life changing event has quite a long introduction. It all began two years and three months before the actual event. My husband and I had been married just under a year when I started asking THE question…”when do you want to have children?” I knew I was ready any time; I just had to wait until he was ready. I have many nieces and nephews and really helped raise the first two in the family, so I had an inkling of what I was getting into. Well, Allen hemmed-and-hawed for quite some time, and so I just backed off. I had been pushing pretty hard for awhile and was getting frustrated by not getting anywhere with him. So I figured I would wait awhile and then I would start in again after a little break. Well to my surprise, he actually rolled over in bed a few months later and asks THE question…”Do you want to start trying?” Well, duh, I thought to myself, but I just beamed up at him and said an emphatic, “YES!” So thus began our journey of trying to have a baby. All did not go as smooth as I thought it might. I mean, my mother was fertile-myrtle, why was I not getting pregnant?! It must be Allen. I gently approached the subject. I told him that it had been several months with no success and that something might be wrong. The easiest check they can do is the male sperm count; the female checks are much more involved and costly. Well, after some talking and convincing he finally agreed. I went to the hospital, got the specimen cup, and even agreed to take it back for him (he was fortunate enough to be able to do it all at home). So the blessed (or cursed, depending on whose side you are telling) day came. Allen filled the cup; I hot-footed it over to the hospital, and went home to await the results so we could begin treatment to help us get pregnant. However, the results were not what I had expected. Allen’s count was something for him to gloat about…which means the problem lies with me. I was crushed. I could hardly believe that my mother was so easily impregnable and I am damaged goods. I bawled and apologized to Allen for being the problem. He was so wonderful. He held me tight and said there was nothing wrong with me and told me that all was not lost; if we didn’t get pregnant, we could adopt or do whatever I wanted for children. So I called my OBGYN and got an appointment to find out what was wrong with me. It was going to be scary. It could be something that was not fixable. I may never have my own children. The doctor was very nice. She totally relaxed me and even made me laugh. She encouraged me that it could be something minor but even if it wasn’t, there were many possibilities and to keep my hopes up. So she sent me for blood work; that all came back okay. Then she set me up for a sonogram of my abdomen to see if my ovaries and uterus were okay. That is where we found the problem. I had Poly-cystic Ovary Syndrome, which is a condition where the ovaries do not release the egg and it turns into a small cyst inside the ovary. Okaaaay, so is this treatable and if so, what do we do? The doctor explained that since I was still having regular menstrual cycles, we would first try a medicine that would help to regulate my body hormones to see if the ovaries would release the eggs. What is unique about this medicine is that it is really for diabetics to help regulate their insulin, but research has shown that it also helps regulate the female hormones for the menstrual cycle. By that point, I was ready to try anything; so we stopped by the pharmacy on the way home and I started the medicine immediately. Two months went by…nothing. I put a call in to the doctor and she agreed to see me again to possibly start fertility pills –a very low dosage, we didn’t want quadruplets. She didn’t have any openings for a couple of weeks, so I took her first appointment available. In the meantime, my period was due again. So I prepared myself for the disappointment that would be coming any day. One day late—okay, sometimes this happens and it is just annoying not know when it will be coming, so just to reassure myself that the awful thing would appear, I got out a pregnancy test. If I don’t have it in the morning, I will check, not that anything will be there, but just to reassure myself that ‘Aunt Flow’ was still coming to visit. Two days late—alright just to make sure I am having my visitor, which I am sure to get; I will just go ahead and take my last pregnancy test. With a trembling hand, and a down-cast heart, I used the pregnancy test. Now the wait. You have to wait two minutes for the test to process, but it wasn’t 30 seconds later and the test was reading “Pregnancy.” Oh, my gosh!! What is the percentage of error on these things?! Is this really happening? I called my husband into the bathroom. I handed him the stick. “We’re pregnant?” he asked. “I guess so,” was all I could reply. There were so many butterflies in my stomach and my heart was beating a million miles a minute. I couldn’t believe that we were going to have a baby, and we didn’t even need the fertility pills. Just the thought of that must have scared my eggs into action! I wanted to shout it out to everyone and keep it all to myself at the same time. Now the doctor’s appointment could be my first check instead of more interventions. Now that you know the struggle that we went through to get our little piece of heaven, you might have inkling how special this whole event was for us. I had no problems during the entire pregnancy and even felt glowing. I was ready for this baby, but I was a little scared too. I didn’t know what kind of mom I would make and if I would make all the right decisions, but we were having a baby and there was no going back. The blessed day came out of nowhere. I was on spring break and my parents came to visit since I could no longer travel being two weeks away from my due date. It was their final day with me, Good Friday. Mom was having everyone to her house for Easter and she needed to go home to prepare. We were having lunch and the little pains that had been only a nuisance all morning were getting closer together and starting to make me catch my breath a little. I mentioned them to my husband but told him they were probably nothing since they really didn’t hurt. He went back to work and my parents took me back to my house. They noticed I was a little discomforted, and asked me about it. I told them I had been having contractions and they were about three minutes apart, but that they didn’t hurt. My mom advised me to call the doctor. So I did. I got the doctor on call—not my doctor, and she advised me that if it continued over the next hour, to come on in to the hospital. I didn’t want to deliver without my doctor there!! But I did as instructed; an hour later my parents and I were gathering my bag that I hadn’t packed yet, and heading off to the hospital. As I arrived, I checked in and headed up to the maternity ward. They hooked me up to all kinds of machines and checked my dilation—good contractions, but I was only dilated to a four. So they had me walk around for about an hour and then hooked me up again—good contractions still and now dilated to five and a half, almost six. So they walked me around for another hour and called the doctor to come and check me herself. So they hooked me up and I waited for the doctor. When my doctor walked into the room, I almost cried with relief. She was here! I still wasn’t having any pain, but I was dilating and contracting. She asked me if I wanted to have a baby tonight or wait. So I decided—TONIGHT! My parents decided to stick around…they weren’t missing this for anything! My husband arrived. The doctor broke my water, and hell began. The pain was bad. Livable, but bad. I got an epidural---awe that feels so good. Then the doctor said it was time. Already?! The pushing began. I think I pushed for an eternity. Not much progress, but the doctor kept saying “looking good.” “Okay, let’s turn on her epidural, and up the Pitocin,” the doctor requested. What?!!! More pushing. My God, when is this going to be over! Snip, snip. I didn’t even feel the episiotomy; the pain had gone far beyond that point. Okay more pushing. Gush! Out came the baby! He was quietly crying, but was quickly soothed by lying on my chest. He was beautiful and perfect, and I immediately loved him with all my heart. The rest is kind of a blur, but the best part was here and he was healthy and safe and close to my heart.